Hitomi's Ouran Story
by Niera12
Summary: Hitomi Fukuda didn't think going to Ouran would be very special. She expected to go along the school year without anything amazing happening to her. Then she landed herself a debt with the Host Club and began to work for them and actually make friends.
1. Chapter 1

Hitomi Fukuda really didn't like rich people, or at least she thought she didn't. Actually, she was rich herself, but she didn't care much for all the money. She had never really needed it for anything besides buying gaming consoles and concert or convention tickets.

Why exactly did she dislike rich people? It was because they were stuck up. She had never met any upper-class person that treated lower-classes as anything other than charity cases or something that shouldn't be acknowledged, like stray animals. She also disliked rich people because of her older brother and sister.

Her brother and sister ridiculed Hitomi because she lived in her middle-class Auntie's house, didn't take advantage of her wealth, didn't dress in the finest clothes (they were appalled to find her in a stained shirt with holes in it), and more. They were also mad at her over family matters. Hitomi pushed them out of her life, mostly due to the family issues, and refuses to talk to them anymore, though they won't talk to her, either.

Today Hitomi was lazing around her house. It was spring break and, after attending various conventions throughout the first week, studying, and completing an entrance exam at the beginning of the second week, she finally had a day to relax. She flipped through channels on the television until she ended up watching Howl's Moving Castle.

"Oh, good, I haven't missed anything yet," she mumbled, popping a grape into her mouth. She pushed herself to a sitting position on the couch.

About halfway through the movie the lock on the front door clicked, then the door opened. Hitomi heard her aunt Michiko Fukuda stepping into the house and a strong smell of car fuel quickly filled up the room.

"Tomi?" Michiko called.

"In the living room!" Hitomi said. Seconds later Michiko appeared in the room.

Michiko had just gotten back from her job repairing cars, and it was apparent by her appearance. Her long black hair was in a sloppy bun and strands hung around her face, sweat glistened on her skin, her clothes were messy and had oil on them, and she had one large black mark on her right cheek. Hitomi grinned a little. It wasn't unusual to see Michiko like this, but usually the mess was toned down.

"Long day?" Hitomi asked. Her aunt nodded.

"We had more cars than usual today," she said. "You should have seen how messy the garage was when I left!"

"I'm guessing everyone was rushing around a lot and that's how you got that mark on your cheek?" Hitomi guessed.

"Yeah. I'll fix that when I take a shower." She turned, then stopped. "Oh, Hitomi, when I come back, we'll talk about your new school."

"Okay, Auntie," Hitomi said. She waited until she heard the bathroom door close, then let out a slightly frustrated sigh.

Over the break her school had been changed from Sakura High to some school called Ouran Academy. Apparently her grades in her last year of middle school had been so high that her teachers recommended her to Ouran and they accepted (after she passed the entrance exam, of course, which Michiko made her take). She didn't know much about it besides it had better education than Sakura High, it was bigger, she'd have to take the train to get there, she wouldn't have any of her old friends with her, and it was a rich kids' school.

Hitomi didn't interact with many rich people. The ones she saw on TV were usually okay, but she didn't know how they'd treat her if she ever met them without anyone around. She was, however, determined to beat the snot out of the kids at school if they dared to insult her or her aunt.

Her attention returned to the movie. She put the school out of her mind, preparing to worry about it when Michiko was finished with her shower.

"So, Tomi."

"So, Auntie."

Hitomi and Michiko stared at each other across the small, square dinner table. Hitomi broke eye contact to eat one of her udon noddles.

"What do you think about Ouran so far?" Michiko asked. "Based on what you know."

"I think it's a rich school, and big," Hitomi said. "I went to see how big the school was with Kasumi on our way to the mall, and it's huge! Sakura High isn't that big!"

"Well, lots of money was put into it," Michiko said.

"But if I have two classes next to each other that are on opposite ends of the campus then I'll be running to get there, then I'll sweat and end up stinking up the class and I don't think they'll like that."

"Well, I'll be getting your schedule soon and I'll make sure your classes aren't too far apart."

"And then I'll have to use the train –"

"You don't _have _to. It's close enough that it can take about fifteen minutes to bike there, but if you use the subway it'll take nine minutes, then probably one more to walk there."

"I'll try both ways. Oh, and then it being a rich kids' school..."

Michiko snorted a little. "But you are a rich kid," she said.

"I know that, but I come off as a middle-class kid in public."

"Because you don't go to those richer stores like I tell you! I've seen one that has clothes that I think you'd like!"

"But to spend lots of money on clothes? Auntie, that's stupid."

"You cosplay."

"As – what? Two, three characters? It's not the same!"

"How?"

"Because it's..." Hitomi tried to find the right way to tell Michiko how it wasn't the same. "I only wear those for conventions, not every day. I wouldn't spend lots of money on something that would eventually get ruined because I wore it all the time."

"Okay, okay." Michiko held up a hand. "Well, I'll have your schedule and your uniforms by the end of this week, hopefully."

"Oh, what are the uniforms like?" Hitomi sat straighter in her chair.

"The boy's uniform is a blue blazer with the school's patch on it, a white shirt, black tie with two purple stripes, black pants, and black dress shoes. The girl's uniform is a yellow dress with white cuffs and a white collar, a thin red tie, white stockings, and brown Mary Janes. You'll try the girl's uniform first, right?"

The girl nodded. She promised Michiko before Ouran accepted her that she'd try wearing Sakura High's female uniform to see if she was comfortable in it. She figured she should do the same with Ouran Academy's uniforms. She hadn't worn many dresses since elementary school, so she didn't know how comfortable it would be for her now.

"Great! I'll be sure to have both," Michiko said brightly.

"Great." They returned to their udon.


	2. Chapter 2

Hitomi shuffled uncomfortably onto the train. The yellow dress felt weird and heavy around her hips with all the white fabric on the inside, and the shoulders were a bit too poofy for her. She sat on a bench, and found that she couldn't even feel the seat because of all the fabric.

Snickering reached her ears. She looked to the right and saw two guys in an art group she was in snickering at her. She glared at them.

"I told Auntie I'd wear it!" she mouthed. They just nodded, snickered some more, and went back to talking to each other.

Hitomi let out a frustrated sigh. She'd forgotten that they rode the train all the time! Now she was embarrassed even more than she already was.

She fiddled with her backpack and kept her head down. The ride felt longer than nine minutes. Every stop seemed to take about five, and the ride between the stops took ten. She almost wanted to cry out in joy when her stop was reached.

Hitomi nearly ran out of the train car, but moved slowly so she didn't accidentally put a hole in the new stockings. She hurried out of the station and down the street towards Ouran. It wasn't hard to find since the school had a huge clock tower that could be seen from a mile away.

When she came up to the gates, she was a little surprised to find lots of students in the courtyard. Last time she had seen the school it was empty, and she hadn't expected herds of students to be hanging around. She thought they'd be looking for their classes, or at least the first-years would.

Hitomi stepped past the gates, feeling a bit nervous, though for what she considered a stupid reason. She was walking into a crowd of strangers in a new school! She didn't even have any friends to at least tell her where here classes were.

_No, no, you're getting nervous over nothing, _she thought. _You don't need anyone to show you around. It can't be that hard to find my classes._

She pulled her schedule out of her backpack and looked at the homeroom number. 1-A. Wow. She knew her grades were good, but she didn't know they were good enough to get her into class A at this school. She expected class B at the most.

Hitomi climbed the steps up to the school and entered. It was massive inside, just like it was outside. Inside the school there were vases of various sizes. Some of the smaller ones with flowers in them sat on marble pedestals. The hallways had door after door after door...well, you get it. A large staircase was directly in front of her with dark wooden railings on either side. At either end of the hall were floor-to-ceiling windows with dark magenta drapes tied to the sides of the windows. The floors were polished so much that she almost felt guilty about walking on them.

_The Mama-sans* must've worked hard to make it this shiny, _she thought, continuing towards the staircase. Auntie Michiko had told her that the first-year classes would be on the second floor of the school.

Hitomi scanned each of the doors. None of them said 1-A until she got to the end of the left side of the hall.

"Finally, 1-A!" she said, seeing the sign above the door. Other kids were already crowded around 1-A, talking to each other, except for a boy in tattered clothes whose hair looked like he hadn't brushed it, or if he did he hadn't wet the brush. He looked around at everyone through big, thick-framed glasses.

_No fair! _Hitomi thought when she saw him. _How come he doesn't have to wear the uniform? Maybe he's poor and he got in because of his good grades? I hope that's it, because I would've worn my black tank and some jeans and sneakers. And Papa's hat. Oh, but Auntie'd probably tell me to wear something nicer._

Hitomi frowned at the boy – the girlish boy, in fact. A pretty boy.

_Kasumi might like to see this guy, _she thought. _She loves pretty boys._

Hitomi kept her distance from the group of girls and boys around 1-A. She didn't like them, not because they were rich, but because they were strangers. She didn't like strangers at all.

Shortly after she had arrived the bell rang and the teacher opened up his room. Everyone filed in and started choosing their seats. Hitomi took the one in the middle of the left column, next to one of the windows. She'd probably be freezing in winter, but when it started to warm up she'd be grateful she got that desk before anyone else. Unless the school had heating and air conditioning. Then her plan would mean nothing.

After fifteen minutes of waiting for the rest of the class to enter, the bell for first period rang. The teacher had everyone do short introductions after the bell. The introductions started at the first row and worked its way down. Hitomi didn't even both to listen that much, but then it was her turn and she had no idea what the questions were besides her name.

Hitomi stood up and stared at the black board. "My name is Hitomi Fukuda," she said. "I'm fifteen years old." Then she stopped.

"And, your parent's occupation?" Mr. Watanabe asked.

She frowned. What did her parents do again? "Um, my mother is a well known lawyer, and my father is an actor." At least, that's what they were years ago.

A couple kids started mumbling to each other. Most of them said that they had never heard of a Fukuda lawyer or actor.

"And you were in our middle school, right?" Mr. Watanabe asked. Hitomi shook her head.

"No, I was enrolled in Sakura High before coming here," she said. That caused more mumbling.

"Isn't that a commoner's school?"

"What's she doing at a commoner's school with rich parents?"

"Maybe she's joking."

Hitomi sat down and tuned out everyone else's introductions. Instead she took out her mechanical pencil and started playing with it.

Eventually all the introductions were done and class started. Hitomi took precise notes, determined to keep her notebook clean this year instead of her notes last year which were covered in doodles.

The first day of school seemed to fly by. First she was in her class, then she was eating the lunch she had packed, then she was in class again, and then the bell rang. And the whole day passed without a single person trying to talk to her about anything but school work.

"Auntie?" she said into her phone as she left the school grounds. "School is over. When will you be home?"

"Probably at five," Michiko said. "I have to work overtime – but I'm getting paid for it!"

"That's good. Well, I'll see you when you get home, Auntie."

"Bye-bye, Tomi!"

"Bye, Auntie."

Hitomi ended the call and headed towards the train station. She'd looked at the schedule before school started and knew that she had ten minutes to get there before the next train arrived.

A couple girls from Ouran walked past her, giggling. They looked older than her.

"Let's hurry, Miki-chan. I want to be there right when the host club opens up!" one said.

"Don't worry, we're only going to get a cake for Honey-sempai," the other, Miki, said. "The shop is right there! We'll make it!"

Hitomi frowned a little. 'Host club' sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember what it was. It was probably a rich school thing, since Sakura intermediate didn't have a host club. It probably didn't even concern her.

She pushed the thought of a host club out of her head and continued on to the station.

"Tomi-chan!" Auntie Michiko sang when she entered the house.

"In the kitchen," Hitomi said, now wearing a black tank top, grey sweatpants, and a red and white cap. She set two bowls of ramen onto the table.

"Smells like ramen." Michiko walked into the kitchen. "It is ramen!"

"Beef flavored," Hitomi added.

"Yum." They sat down and started eating. "So, Hitomi, how was your first day?" The teenager shrugged.

"It was okay," she said. "I didn't make any friends, if that's what you're wondering."

"Aw, not even one?" She shook her head. "Hitomi! Why not?"

"I didn't talk to anyone, and no one talked to me." She grinned a little. "But I did confuse people when I said what my parents jobs were during introductions."

"Why?"

"Because I introduced myself as a Fukuda."

"Oh."

Hitomi slurped up a noodle. "Hey, Auntie, what's a host club?"

Michiko frowned. "Why do you want to know?"

"I just heard these girls talking about a host club at the school," Hitomi said with a shrug. "and I realized that I have no idea what a host club is."

"Um, well, a host club is a place where girls go to be flirted with by guys," Michiko said, a little bashfully. "Light flirting! And the guys also serve drinks, I think."

"That's it?" Michiko nodded. "Okay, then. Thanks, Auntie."

Michiko and Hitomi finished their ramen in silence. When Hitomi was done, she put her plate in the sink and headed to the attic.

"You aren't going to stay and watch any Gaki reruns?" Michiko asked.

"Nope, I have homework to do," Hitomi replied as she pulled down the ladder.

"So I have to watch Gaki by myself?" Michiko asked in mock hurt.

"You can watch another variety show. Or one of those American shows on – what is it? Fox? I'm sure they're playing that cop show that you like," Hitomi said.

"It's CSI, and no, they don't. They play the zombie one we like at this time," Michiko said.

"I still have homework." The teenager opened the trap door climbed into the attic. "Record it for me!"

"It's probably a rerun."

"I like the reruns." She shut the door, turned on the lamps, and got started on her homework.

***Mama-san: In my school (I go to school in Japan on an American base) we call the cleaning ladies Mama-sans, so I thought why not call the cleaning staff in Ouran Mama-sans as well?**


	3. Chapter 3

Hitomi frowned at her cereal and fidgeted on her seat. Two days later and she still didn't feel comfortable in the dress.

"Auntie, I can't wear this after this week," she said. Michiko looked up from her waffle. "I mean, not every day. It's uncomfortable."

"Okay. I didn't expect you to like it much, anyway. It looked like it had too much fabric for your liking," she said. Hitomi nodded.

"Plus, the shoes might be a little bit too small," she added. "They pinch my toes."

"Oh, really? Maybe I ordered the wrong size..."

"It's okay, Auntie. I _think_ I can deal with them for three more days. They're probably just not broken in yet."

"Maybe. I want you to try on the dress shoes when you get home to see if they hurt, okay?" She nodded.

Suddenly Michiko's watch started to beep.

"That's my cue! Bye, Tomi!" she said. She held the waffle in her mouth and hugged Hitomi.

"Bye-bye," Hitomi said. Michiko stood up, grabbed her purse from the table, and hurried off, leaving Hitomi finish eating her cereal.

Twenty minutes later Hitomi was on the train, talking to her friends that had laughed at her two days ago. They were still grinning like idiots, but didn't make jokes about her wearing a dress anymore.

"So, Hitomi-chan," one of them said. "Are you going to come hang out with us this weekend?"

"No," Hitomi said with a laugh. "I probably have homework to do."

"Aw, but it's the first week of school! You can't have that much homework!" the other said. She shrugged.

"I might. If I do, even if it's just a little, I don't think I'm coming out. I have to get amazing grades or I won't be able to stay at the school," she said.

"But you can buy your way back in, can't you?"

"Yeah, maybe. I'm not sure how much it costs to go to the school. Oh, here's my stop!" She got up and slung her backpack over her shoulder. "Bye."

"Bye, Hitomi-chan," they said.

Hitomi hopped off of the train and walked to Ouran. When she got to the gates, she saw a large flock of giggling girls. She wouldn't have cared, but they were right in front of the entrance to the school.

_Maybe they'll move on before I get there, _she thought as she walked past the gates. When she reached the group, they hadn't moved an inch. Hitomi started jumping up and down to see what the big deal was. All she saw was a tall boy with blonde hair in the middle. Hitomi frowned and started forcing her way through the flock. Some of them made irritated noises, but she ignored them.

Finally she got through the crowd just as the bell rang. She ran to the stairs to avoid a flood of students and hurried up to her class. The pretty boy and Mr. Watanabe were the only two in the class, but she had seen some of her classmates in the courtyard so she knew they were coming.

"Good morning, Fukuda-san," Mr. Watanabe said, bowing.

"Good morning, Mr. Tanaka," she replied, bowing as well. Then she straightened up and walked to her desk, ready for the day.

A month and a half later, Hitomi was doing good in school. She'd started wearing the boy's uniform during the second week of school (Michiko made sure it was alright with the school) and felt much more comfortable, but still wore the female uniform whenever the other one was being washed. She also rode her bike every other week since it was free and didn't take very long.

Along with Hitomi, the school had changed a little. The pretty boy (who she learned was named Haruhi) had stopped wearing his big sweater and glasses and instead wore a boy's uniform and no glasses. He had started brushing his hair as well. He was pretty popular with the girls, making it harder for Hitomi to get into the classroom or to her desk since they would crowd around him and he was always at class in the morning.

There was also the Host Club. Hitomi had been hearing about it more and more, and it was bugging her. She wanted to see what was so good about it since it had been bugging her for a month and a half.

After school Hitomi gathered up her things and hurried out of the room. She heard that the club was in Music Room 3, so she headed there – but she didn't know where it was. Hitomi spent about half an hour wandering around and getting lost in the school before she came across the music room.

"Finally," she mumbled, grabbing one of the door handles. "I thought I'd never find this place."

She opened the door and turned on the lights. The room was empty and there were no instruments, which kind of bugged her.

"Hello?" she said, walking in and closing the door. "Hello? Anybody here?"

No answer. Hitomi dropped her backpack and walked around a little, looking at everything. There were a few vases on pedestals around the room, couches in the middle with coffee tables in front or in between them, and a couple large vases with flowers in them. It wasn't anything special to Hitomi.

She reached the back of the room and decided to leave. She probably wasn't supposed to be in there anyway if the club activities hadn't started yet.

Hitomi walked back to the exit. When she got near the doors, she noticed something on the ground in front of the doors. She slowed down and squinted at it. She was almost right in front of it when she realized that it was a tarantula.

Hitomi let out a gasp and backed up into one of the small brown pedestals. The pedestal fell down and with it went a very beautiful blue vase and Hitomi.

The vase shattered as soon as it hit the floor. Unfortunately for Hitomi, she landed on the pieces and tore her uniform and arm. She winced and grabbed the wound, then pushed herself to her feet.

"Damn spider," she growled.

Suddenly she heard voices. They were faint at first, but then they started getting louder and louder. They sounded like five boys all coming towards the music room.

_Shit! _she thought, stepping back. _What if they're coming into this room? What if they're from the club? They'll be pissed when they find this! I have to hide..._

She looked around and saw two doors on opposite sides of the room. She ran to one and opened it with the hand that wasn't bloody, then dashed inside and shut the door.

Inside was what looked like a changing room. Hitomi might have looked around if she was alone, but instead she pressed her ear to the door and listened to what happened.

The doors opened and a series of gasps were heard. The boys walked into the room and she heard some vase bits crunch under their shoes.

"What happened here?" one of them said.

"Did you do this, Haruhi?" another said.

"No! I haven't been in here all day!" Haruhi said.

"I'll have to add this to your debt," another guy said.

"Senpai! I didn't do it!"

"Check it out, Kyo-chan! There's blood!" It sounded like a little kid.

"We found this backpack by one of the couches," two voices said in unison.

_Damn it, I left my bag! _Hitomi thought. She gritted her teeth when she heard them undoing the strap.

"Hikaru! Kaoru! It's rude to go through people's things!" the first boy said. He sounded like the tall blond second-year she saw around school, the one who was always flanked by girls. What was his name?

"Looks like it belongs to Hitomi Fukuda," Hikaru or Kaoru said. His voice seemed a little hoarse.

"Who's that?" the kid asked.

"Oh, I know her. She's the girl in our class who wears the boy's uniform," Haruhi said.

"Another girl wearing a boy's uniform?" the kid said.

_Another? _Hitomi frowned and leaned into the door. Suddenly the door opened and she fell forward. Her heart started beating like crazy.

"Found you," a cold voice said. Hitomi looked up at a tall boy with short, black hair and dark eyes peering at her from behind round glasses. He held a notebook in his hand and a pen in the other. The boy gave her a cold smile.

Hitomi got into a sitting position and looked around the room. She saw Haruhi, two twins in her class, the tall blond second year, a kid with blonde hair, and an extremely tall guy with black hair all looking at her. She wanted to disappear into the floor, which was unusual for her. She was used to attention and often got in trouble for breaking things, so why was she nervous now?

The blond walked over to her and knelt down. "Are you alright?" he asked in a soft voice.

"I'm fine," she said.

"Really? Because your arm is bleeding," one of the twins pointed out.

"Yeah, I know that," she said.

"Ms. Fukuda, you do know that you will have to pay for that vase you broke, right?" the boy with the glasses said.

"I didn't mean to!" Hitomi said. "It's because of that damn spider that I tripped over the pedestal!"

"A spider?" the second twin said. He looked back, then chuckled. "Oops. Looks like we left our toy here, Hikaru."

"Oh yeah," Hikaru said.

"Regardless, you still have to pay for it," glasses boy said.

"No fair!" Hitomi said. "I didn't mean to!" He shrugged.

"Don't try and get out of it," Haruhi said. "It's impossible."

Hitomi frowned, but she thought that Haruhi was telling the truth. The guy seemed trustworthy, and she didn't know why he would lie to her. "How much do I have to pay?"

"Twelve million yen."

Her jaw dropped. "Twelve _million_?" she said. "Who the hell pays twelve million yen for a vase?"

"The school does," he said simply.

"It used to be eight million yen," Hikaru said. "Back when there was an identical vase."

"But Haruhi broke the vase so we raised the price," the other twin said.

"I don't have twelve million! I only have, like, five? Six? Half of it isn't even mine!" she exclaimed.

"Well, then, you'll have to work to pay the debt, just like Haruhi."

"I can't believe this!" She almost felt like punching the guy. She hadn't done it one purpose!

"Come on, I think we should get you to the nurse," Haruhi said. He helped Hitomi up and quickly led her out of the room and to the nurses office.

"I'm sorry about Kyoya-senpai," he said.

"The guy with glasses?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah. The same thing that happened to you happened to me, minus getting cut. And my debt was eight million yen."

"So you work for them, too?"

"Eh, sorta. I act as another host to pay off my debt, and it's actually kind of easy, but I also buy things for them."

"Yeah? So I have to go buy stuff for them?"

"Yep. You'll also have to clean up, since none of them really clean up after themselves."

Hitomi frowned. She hated the idea if have someone else do the cleaning for her instead of doing it herself. It's a simple task! Sure, sometimes having someone clean up after her would be nice nice, but she wouldn't always make the person clean.

"Here we are." Haruhi pulled Hitomi into the nurse's office. "Excuse me? Miss Sato?"

The nurse poked her head out of one of the curtains. She smiled at Haruhi. "Mr. Fujioka! What brings you here?"

"Hitomi cut her arm," Haruhi said, gesturing at Hitomi's arm. Ms. Sato's face had an expression that said, "Oh, I've got this."

"Don't worry, I can fix this in a jiffy," she said, gesturing them over to a stool. Hitomi and Haruhi walked over to it and Hitomi sat on the stool.

"So, how did this happen?" Ms. Sato asked as she got the bandages and disinfectant out.

"A vase shattered and I fell on the pieces," Hitomi said. She winced when Ms. Sato started to clean the wound. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Sorry, but if I don't do this, the cuts might get infected. Now, keep still." She kept a tight grip on Hitomi's arm.

Hitomi bit her lip and did her best to keep still, but it was hard. She was relieved when Ms. Sato finally bandaged up her arm.

"There you go. Come back tomorrow so I can change the bandages," she said.

"I will. Thank you." Hitomi got up and bowed, then hurried out with Haruhi.

"Well, thanks for taking me to the nurse's," she said to Haruhi. "I guess I'd better get going –"

"Oh no you don't!" Suddenly the twins appeared on either side of Hitomi and grabbed her. "You're coming with us!"

"Wha – why?"

"Because you're starting work right now!" the one with the left parting said.

"No way! I have to go home!" Hitomi protested.

"Too bad. Kyoya said you have to start today," the one with the right parting said.

Hitomi tried to free herself, but the twins quickly dragged her away with Haruhi following behind.

They went all the way back to the club which by now was full of girls. The twins took Hitomi straight to Kyoya and stood her up, then started to dust her off with huge smiles on their faces.

"Here she is, Kyoya-senpai!" the one with the left parting said.

"Nice and bandaged and ready to work!" the one with the right parting said.

"Good." Kyoya said. He turned to his group of girls. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I have to get our new trainee familiar with things." They whined, but didn't stop him. Hitomi frowned at how warmly he was speaking to them when he'd been acting cold to her.

_They probably didn't break a twelve million yen vase, _she thought.

Kyoya turned to Hitomi and shooed the twins who went to their own group. She looked up at him, trying not to show how intimidated she was by him. He looked her up and down and sighed, then started mumbling something about how "it'll have to do."

"Well, Miss Fukuda," he said. "I suppose we ought to get you familiar with the hosts first."

"I suppose so," she said.

"I am Kyoya Ootari, a second year and the manager of the club. I'm also the cool type," he added. Hitomi frowned in confusion.

"The cool type?"

"Yes. Each boy in here is a different type of person, just like in a more professional host club. Tamaki, for example, is the princely type." He nodded to the tall blond who was flirting his mouth off.

"I see. So his name is Tamaki."

"Tamaki Suou," Kyoya said. "a second year as well and the 'king' of the club." He said it almost as if it were some funny joke.

Kyoya gestured towards the twins. "Those two are Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, the devil types."

"Devil, hm?" she mumbled. She remembered the few times they pranked the poor class president. "Which one is which?"

"Hikaru is the one with the left parting, and Kaoru is the one with the right parting, although sometimes they like to mix up their hair." Next Kyoya motioned to the kid and the really tall and quiet guy. "Those two are Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Takashi Morinozuka, but we call them Honey and Mori. They're both third years. Honey is the lolita type and Mori is the silent type."

"Wait...that's really a Haninozuka?" Hitomi asked, astounded. Kyoya nodded. "No way! The Haninozuka's are my martial arts idols! But, Honey-senpai's so small. How's he a third year?"

"He's seventeen, you know."

"No way! He looks almost like he's four!"

"That's why he's the lolita type." He turned her attention to Haruhi. "Finally, Haruhi Fujioka, the natural type honors student who also has a debt of eight million yen for breaking a vase identical to the one you broke." Hitomi gulped. "Her being a commoner actually helps attract customers."

"Okay...wait, her?" She looked up at him.

"Yes, her." He glanced around the room then leaned closer to Hitomi. "Don't tell me you actually believed that Haruhi was a boy."

"I...I...I..." She blushed. That's why Haruhi was so pretty. But, she didn't even look at Haruhi much after the first day when she really looked like a boy. "Well, I don't pay much attention to Haruhi, and I still remember her in the sweater and glasses," she said, her voice as hushed as his was. She really didn't mean to talk so low, but since he did she was inclined to copy him. "B-But you can't say that to me when all those girls around Haruhi think she's a guy!"

Kyoya thought about it for a second, then straightened up. "True," he said. "Well, Hitomi, since I'm done introducing them to you, it's time you actually start working." He motioned for her to follow, which she reluctantly did.

_I could ditch him right now, _she thought. _Aw, but he might track me down. Maybe I can leave the province, or the island! He wouldn't be able to find me if I went to Okinawa, would he?_

Kyoya opened up a room with shelves full of snacks, drinks, and dishes. Hitomi's mouth dropped at the sight. She was tempted to eat half of the snacks. At that moment her stomach growled slightly, reminding her that she hadn't eaten her usual after-school snack.

"You will first go around and serve tea to everyone," Kyoya said, taking a platter that Hitomi swore was really a fancy mirror and handing it to her. He grabbed a teapot and some cups, each one beautifully decorated. Hitomi had never really been one for decorated dishes, but she couldn't help but gawk at the ones she was given. "Today's tea is Earl Grey," Kyoya added, putting a teabag on the platter. "First you will serve the tea to Honey and Mori, then Tamaki, then myself, then the twins, and finally Haruhi. After that you will probably be asked to serve cake to Honey's table. Then you'll have to clean up after everyone all while catering to our wishes."

"I don't like this job," Hitomi mumbled.

"I'm sorry? I didn't quite catch that."

"I said, where am I supposed to get hot water for the tea?" she said.

"There's a sink around the corner." He gestured to the end of the room. Hitomi frowned and walked to the end, and was surprised to find an extra space where a sink was situated.

"I leave you to it. Oh, and if anyone asks about your arm which I'm certain they will, just tell them that the blood is paint and you tore your uniform on a branch outside," Kyoya said before leaving. Hitomi huffed and set the platter on the counter next to the sink. All of her amazement had disappeared and only left irritation.

"Damn it," she mumbled, getting the hot water running. "Good freaking job, Hitomi. Now you have to work for these people because you're so damn curious." She continued to mumble to herself until she had gotten the tea ready. Then she shut up and walked out, hoping that she didn't show how mad she was.

First she headed to Honey and Mori's table. She didn't say anything as she set the cups on the table and poured the tea, and she didn't want to talk to anyone, but Honey apparently wanted to talk to her.

"Tomi-chan!" Honey said, grabbing her sleeve. "Hey, hey! Do you want some cake?"

Hitomi stared at the chocolate cake. It was so tempting, and she temporarily forgot about Honey calling her "-chan" even though they only just met.

"I don't think I can," she said reluctantly. "I have to serve more tea."

"Aw, but you can take a quick cake break!" Honey said. He held up the cake to her. "C'mon!"

"Hey, Honey-senpai," one of the girls said, staring at Hitomi. "Who's this?"

"This is Hitomi! She works for us now, right, Takashi?" Honey turned to Mori.

"Hm," Mori said, putting a piece of cake in his mouth.

"Why is her uniform torn?" another girl asked.

"Is that blood?" a third gasped.

"It's not blood," she said. "It's just paint, and my uniform got stuck on a branch outside."

_That reminds me,_ she thought, looking over to the spot where she had cut herself. She was surprised to find it spotless, as if nothing had even happened.

"So, Tomi-chan, are you sure you don't want cake?" Honey asked Hitomi, grabbing her attention. She bit her bottom lip and then took the cake and placed it on her platter.

"I'll eat it later," she said. She finished pouring the tea, then went back to the room to make more.

On her second trip she went to Tamaki's table. He smiled brightly at her when she approached.

"Ah, the newest member!" he said, standing up to greet her. His group of girls stared at them.

"Here's your tea," she said, ignoring the hand he held out. She proceeded to pour the tea.

"Newest member?" one of the girls asked.

"Yes, this is Hitomi Fukuda. She's in Haruhi's class, and she's graciously volunteered to help out around the club," Tamaki said.

"Tch, yeah, _volunteered_," Hitomi mumbled. She didn't hear Tamaki going on about how she 'volunteered' and was surprised when he grabbed her after she finished with the tea.

"But darling Hitomi knows that she can always come to me if she's ever in a bind!" he said in a slightly flirtatious voice, staring into her eyes. He was pretty close to her, which she wasn't used to. She didn't know what to do besides push him away.

"Don't do that! I have to do my job!" she snapped, blushing and taking the platter and teapot. She hurried back to the snack room.

Her third trip was to Kyoya's table. He, luckily, didn't say anything to her while she was pouring the tea, but when she was leaving he said, "Don't drop that, Hitomi. If it breaks, it will be added to your debt."

She slowed down a little, then sped up, now more aware than ever about how she carried the platter. In her head she repeated, "Don't drop it" over and over.

Her fourth trip was to the twins' table. She had hoped that they would have left her alone, but before she could pour the tea, they grabbed her.

"This is Hitomi Fukuda, our newest puppy!" one of them, Hikaru, said as they showed her off to their clients.

"Puppy?" she asked, a little insulted.

"Isn't she the cutest?" Kaoru asked, pinching her cheek. She swatted his hand away.

"I've got a job to do, y'know," she said, trying to slip away from them.

"It's not like you can't hang out with us," Hikaru said.

"Yeah. Kyoya won't add any money to your debt," Kaoru said. Hitomi eyed Kyoya.

"C'mon, we were getting ready to play a game anyway," Hikaru said.

"Is it the Which One is Hikaru game?" one girl asked. Hitomi gave Hikaru a confused look.

"No, not today," he said with a laugh.

"No, this one is a game where we can play with Puppy!" Kaoru said.

Hitomi slipped out of their grasp and grabbed the teapot. "_Puppy _doesn't want to play a game," she said.

"C'mon, don't be such a bad puppy," Hikaru said.

"We'll have to whack you on your nose," Kaoru said, holding up a finger. Hitomi gave them a glare, then started pouring tea and handing the cups to everyone but the twins. Then she went back to the snack room before they could try and grab her.

Finally Hitomi made her way to Haruhi's table. Haruhi smiled warmly at her and didn't do anything weird. She had a feeling they would get along much better than she would with anyone else.

After putting away the teapot, Hitomi started going around and collecting empty cups since she didn't know what else to do. No one protested which was good, but a few girls came up to her and started talking to her which surprised her.

"What's it like working for the host club?"

"Tamaki said you volunteered because you saw that they needed some help! That's so sweet!"

"I never thought you'd join the host club. You're so quiet."

"I wish I could work with the host club!"

Hitomi just smiled and nodded while silently wishing she was at home. She excused herself and went to clean the dishes. After that was done, she wandered around the room with the chocolate cake Honey had given her. She eventually found herself playing "Puppy in the Middle" with the twins. The game was basically them tossing around her backpack while she tried to snatch it away from them. She was eventually able to take it away from Kaoru, accidentally scratching him in the process.

"Ow!" he cried out, falling onto the ground. Hitomi froze where she stood, staring at him. She'd only scratched him a little bit.

"Kao-"

"Kaoru!" Hikaru hurried past Hitomi and knelt down next to his brother who was clutching his hand. "What happened?"

"The latch on the bag scratched me," Kaoru said weakly. Hitomi frowned. Not only were they talking in such dramatic tones, she was pretty sure her fingernail had scratched Kaoru, not the latch.

"Here, let me fix it," Hikaru said. Then he brought Kaoru's hand up to his lips and kissed the scratch. The clients squealed.

_What am I doing here? _Hitomi wondered over and over, inching towards Haruhi's table.

"Hey, Hitomi," Haruhi said as she got closer. Hitomi looked around for Haruhi's group.

"Where'd your girls go?" she asked.

"They all had to leave early."

"Oh. Can you leave early?"

"I don't think so, unless it's something important. But, the club's ending in about ten minutes."

"Yeah?" Now she felt fired up and ready to book it out of the room. "Oh, hey, what's up with the twins? They started doing this act, I think, with Hikaru kissing Kaoru's hand..."

Haruhi chuckled. "Yeah, that's what they do. They're the 'forbidden love' guys, always putting on a show for their clients. It's usually them almost kissing or saying something perverted or something like Hikaru can never find another Kaoru, though."

"So it's fake?"

"Pretty much."

Hitomi felt relieved. She supported gays, don't get her wrong, but she didn't like incest, be it hetero or homosexual. It was just...weird.

"Hey, Hitomi," Haruhi said. "I'm really sorry about how the Host club is acting, and that you got dragged into this." Hitomi waved her hand.

"Psh, it's not your fault, Haruhi," she said. "It's my fault I broke the vase and didn't run while I had the chance. Plus, I've dealt with weird people before. Heck, me and my auntie are weird in our own way." She shrugged. "It's alright."

Hitomi sat next to Haruhi and looked at what she had in her lap. It was that night's math homework.

"Oh! When's that due?" she asked.

"Next week," Haruhi said. "It's actually pretty easy."

"Really? Let me see!"

"No way! You might copy!"

"I won't copy." She took out her phone.

"Yeah you will!"

Hitomi giggled and put her phone away. "I'm kidding, Haruhi." Haruhi grinned.

"I thought so."

"Okay, everyone," Tamaki suddenly said, projecting his voice throughout the room. "It's closing time!" The clients started to whine, but got their things anyway and left.

Hitomi jumped off of the couch and ran out of the room. _God, Auntie might be home! _she thought, running even faster. She didn't stop until she got out to the lawn where her bike was. She picked it up, hopped on it, and rode off.

_Man, I have to do that again tomorrow, don't I? _she thought. _How long is it going to take to pay off the debt? I can probably pay off three million, but that's all my money. Maybe I'll wait until I have only one or two million left, then pay Kyoya with that much. Aw, man, what's Auntie going to think? I should probably tell her just to get it over with. She's going to be so mad when she finds out I have to work off so much money!_

Hitomi bit her lip, now dreading when she got home. She debated over whether to tell Michiko about the debt or not. It would come out sooner or later, but she could lie! She could use Tamaki's lie.

All the way home she debated over it, and finally settled on lying to Michiko. She didn't like lying to her aunt, but she didn't like making her worry, either, or making her mad.

When she reached her house, she jumped off of her bike and ran inside. Michiko was already waiting in front of the door and scared the life out of Hitomi to death when she walked in.

"A-Auntie!" she exclaimed, her hand flying to her heart.

"Where were you?" she asked.

"I got a job," Hitomi said. Michiko frowned in confusion.

"What?"

"There's this host club at my school and I went to check it out because so many girls were talking about it, and when I got there it was actually kind of disorderly and I really don't do much after school, so I decided to help them out with cleaning and helping to serve tea and cake and stuff." Michiko's brow furrowed.

"A host club?"

"Yeah. But it's not like a regular one – I looked up what Host Clubs were. This is just flirting without anything sexual happening. I mean, it's a high school's club. Nothing but flirting, really." Michiko nodded.

"And you made friends there?" she asked. Hitomi snorted.

"Sure, Auntie, sure." Michiko grinned, obviously happy about Hitomi getting friends.

**A/N: Thank you for reading this! I'm really sorry about the weird transition from her third day at Ouran to her second month. I wanted to stay on the first week or so, but I didn't know what more to write about and I did want to get to the club faster. Sorry.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to falbreezy and Da Night Owl for reviewing! (Sorry, should've thanked falbreezy much earlier) Sorry about the sixteen thousand to twelve thousand yen bit in the last chapter to anyone who saw it. The cost was originally sixteen thousand yen, but I changed it to twelve-thousand and forgot to change one line as I went through and modified everything. It's fixed now.**

"I'm so late!" Hitomi cried, running out of the house and buttoning up her pants. She fumbled with her keys and checked her watch. She had already missed the train.

"Damn it," she mumbled, locking the door and running to her bike. She picked it up, tossed her keys into the basket, and took off. She ended up pedaling so fast that at one point she had to stop and let the bike slow down on its own.

The usual fifteen minute ride was cut nearly in half. She was going so fast and, luckily for her, there weren't many people on the sidewalk besides business men on their bikes and most of them rode as fast as her.

When Hitomi reached Ouran, she rode past the gates and straight to the bike rack. Most of the students were heading inside already. Some gave her questioning looks when she sped past them, but dropped it.

"Five minutes left," she mumbled, checking her watch. She put her bike on the rack and hurried up the steps. Inside she was forced to slow down since there was a mob of students on the staircase, but luckily she made it to class a minute before the first period bell rang.

Hitomi let out a relieved sigh and sat down in her seat. She was never going to stay up to watch TV on a school night with her aunt again.

"Good morning, Puppy," two voices said behind her. She frowned. She'd almost forgotten the title the twins had given her. She'd almost forgotten the twins, too, and everything that happened the other day. She had wanted it to be a dream, but her uniform and bandages were proof that she was trapped.

"Good morning," she said, not looking back at the twins. They moved around to stand on either side of her desk.

"Your uniform's still ripped," Hikaru pointed out.

"I know that," Hitomi said.

"Don't you have a spare?" Kaoru asked.

"No."

"It's messy, too," Hikaru said.

"I know that, too."

"You have the female uniform, though," Kaoru said. "Why didn't you just wear that?"

"Because I was in a rush today. I woke up late so I just put on the one that took less time. Plus I had fallen asleep with the shirt and pants on anyway." She started buttoning up her blazer. She hadn't had time to do it that morning.

"That explains why your hair looks so bad," Hikaru said. Hitomi's hands flew to her head. She must have forgotten to brush her hair.

"Good thing I have this," she muttered to herself, pulling out her hair tie and pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She looked up at the twins who were watching her with blank faces. "Why are you two still here? The bell already rang. Go back to your seats."

"We just wanted to check up on our puppy," the twins said, patting her head and smiling at her. She frowned.

"Go back to your seats before Mr. Watanabe notices," she said, pushing their hands away. They patted her head again and left.

Hitomi pulled out her notebook and started taking notes when Mr. Watanabe started that day's lesson. Throughout the period she was mostly doing notes (she did doodle a little on the page here and there) and explaining to some of her classmates why the sleeve of her uniform was torn and that the light stains were paint stains, then explaining why she was painting anything in the first place. One of them offered to fix it for her over the weekend, which surprised her. She didn't talk to her classmates much about anything other than classwork, so she didn't really understand why one of them was offering to fix her uniform.

"Thanks," she said a little slowly to the girl. "My aunt already said she'd fix it though."

"Oh, I see. Is she a seamstress?" the girl asked.

"Uh, no, not at all," she said. "She just knows how to fix torn clothes."

"Oh." They turned their attention back to the teacher and scribbled in their notebooks.

Hitomi stuffed her notebook in her bag and shook it so the book slid into place. She closed it up and got out of her seat.

"Puppy!" The twins grabbed her. "Come on! It's time to go to the club!"

Hitomi looked back at Haruhi who was also caught in the claws of the twins. Haruhi smiled at her.

"Don't worry. They won't always do this," she said.

"I hope not," Hitomi said. Hikaru wrapped his hand around her arm and Kaoru put his arm through Haruhi's, then they dragged the two through the school. Hitomi went without a struggle, but she wasn't happy. She really wanted to go home and do her homework instead of serving tea and cleaning up after everyone.

The others were already there when the first years arrived. Kyoya immediately walked up to Hitomi and looked her up and down before frowning.

"I hope you don't plan to work with your uniform in that state," he said.

"Hey, I didn't have time to put on my other uniform," Hitomi said, holding up her hands. "And I don't have a spare. Plus, I did my job yesterday like this."

"Yes, but that was because I wanted you to start right away. Also you were only going to stay in the club room yesterday," he said.

"What does that mean? Am I –"

"Ah, that's right!" Tamaki stepped forward. "Today you're going to go fetch us some commoner's coffee!" The twins and Honey's faces lit up. Hitomi looked at Haruhi.

"Instant coffee," she said.

"Why didn't he just say that?" Hitomi asked. Haruhi shrugged.

"Yes, you'll be going to buy instant coffee from the local super market," Kyoya said. "And we can't have you going out like that. It would make the school and the club look bad."

"Well what do you suppose I do?" Hitomi asked.

"We'll have to buy you a pair from the school's store," Kyoya said with a small sigh. "Of course, that will add to your debt."

Hitomi hesitated before she spoke. On one hand she would be getting a free spare uniform, but on the other hand she would have more money to work off. But she would get a free uniform.

"Okay, then," she said.

"I'll go get the uniform. Everyone else started getting ready," he ordered. Then he left.

"So, um, will I be using my own money to get the coffee?" Hitomi asked Tamaki. He chuckled.

"Of course not! We have the money for you!" he said, handing Hitomi a large wad of money. Her eyes widened.

"Whoa! Senpai! How much coffee do you want?" she asked, counting the money. "This is like...ten thousand yen!

"Um..." He looked at Haruhi who sighed.

"Tamaki-senpai, instant coffee only costs two-hundred yen," she said. "Fifty if you want little packets."

"We could do with thousands of commoner's coffee," the twins said.

"That sounds like more than one person can handle," Hitomi said. "Carrying, I mean."

"Mori-senpai could go."

"Mori-senpai needs to be here to entertain his clients," Tamaki said.

"Look, this is way too much money. I'll just take a thousand," Hitomi said. She peeled one thousand yen bill from the wad and gave it back to Tamaki. "I can get five packs for this much."

"Right."

Hitomi pocketed the yen. If it was only that much, she could have bought it with her own money.

"Tama-chan," Honey said, going over to Tamaki with Mori at his side. "What are we going to do for the next theme day?"

"Ah, yes, I was thinking about that," Tamaki said. "I was hoping we could do something to make Haruhi look super cute!"

"Theme day?" Hitomi asked.

"Yeah!" Honey said. "That's when we get to put on costumes! Like one time we dressed up as medieval princes!"

"Interesting," Hitomi said. She was looking forward to seeing the costumes. "And, I don't join in on this, right?"

"Of course you do!" Tamaki said. "You're part of the club, after all."

_Oh, crap, I wonder if that adds to my debt, _she thought, frowning a little. Even more money to works off was _not _what she needed.

"Hey, Hitomi," the twins said. "Make sure you get the good kind of coffee."

"The good kind? What's that?" she asked.

"We don't know," they said. "Whatever Haruhi always gets."

"It's cinnamon," Haruhi said as if they should have known.

"Right, cinnamon," the twins said.

"Right, cinnamon," Hitomi repeated in a mumble.

Hitomi inched away and played with the latch on her backpack. She glanced around the room after a bit to see what the others were doing, and was somewhat amused to find Tamaki trying to charm Haruhi who was doing homework. She remembered when she was in her second year of middle school and a very persistent and silly boy in her class was doing the same thing and she gave in after six months of it.

_Silly Nobuo, _she thought with a small laugh.

"Hitomi." Kyoya's cool voice made her jump. She looked behind her and saw him standing there. He held out the brand new uniform in a cream colored bag that looked like it was made from silk (she wouldn't have been surprised if it was). "Your new uniform is ready. The female's dressing room is over there." He pointed to the door on the right side of the room.

"Thanks, Senpai," she muttered, a little ashamed to be saying thanks to that guy. Though, it would have been rude if she didn't thank him.

Hitomi took the bag and headed to the dressing room and started changing her clothes. She frowned at the torn one for the fourth time since yesterday. There were bloodstains on it that she was able to almost wash out the other day, and the same went for the right side of the bottom of her pants (luckily no one could see that).

She had pulled on the pants, shoes, and the white shirt when a thought went through her mind: how did Kyoya know her clothing size? Her brow furrowed. She had only known him for a day. He shouldn't know her sizes.

Hitomi put on her blazer and tie, then walked out and went directly up to Kyoya who was sitting at a table with his laptop in front of him. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, waiting for him to look away from his laptop.

"May I help you?" he asked, his eyes still on the screen.

"How did you know my sizes?" she asked a little heatedly.

"Oh, I have my ways." He smirked a little. Hitomi felt a bit unsettled. "I know much more about you than your clothing sizes."

That was weird. She remembered hearing about a character like this in one of Auntie Michiko's favorite stories. A stalker, she called him.

"Puppy!" The twins grabbed her and dragged her to the entrance. "Now that you're nice and neat, it's time to go get the commoner's coffee!"

"It's instant coffee," she said. They seemed to ignore her.

They opened the doors and pushed her out. "Chop, chop!" Then they slammed the door.

Hitomi stood there for a second. No one usually ordered her around like that. She didn't know whether to go back in there and tell them off or just go ahead and buy the stuff.

_But I have that damn debt hanging over my head, _she thought. She didn't know if they'd use that to blackmail her, but she didn't want to find out. Hitomi turned on her heel and walked away. She'd probably tell off the twins when she got back. Maybe she wouldn't pour them any coffee, either.

Hitomi whistled to herself on her way back from the super market. She held a paper bag full of instant coffee and some sugar cookies in her arms. She was in an awfully cheery mood after having a conversation with Kisami while she was shopping. So cheery, in fact, that she almost didn't mind shopping for the host club.

She stepped past the gates and up into the school. There weren't that many people in the halls since they were all either at clubs, cram school, or had left campus already.

She made her way up to Music Room 3 and turned the doorknob. When she opened it rose petals flew out at her. She was a little shocked at this since it hadn't happened yesterday.

Inside the hosts were entertaining their clients. A few of the clients did look up when she entered, but immediately went back to fawning over their host. Hitomi went over to the snack room and started preparing the coffee since she assumed that's what she ought to do. She poured enough coffee for twenty people and put all the cups on a large platter, then headed over to Mori and Honey's table.

"Here's that coffee," she said, putting the cups on the table. Everyone's faces lit up (besides Mori) and they eagerly took the cups.

"Thanks, Tomi-chan!" Honey said, smiling up at her. She smiled back at him.

"Mhm," she said, then went back to make the next round.

Tamaki's table seemed even happier to get their coffee. Tamaki himself started spewing something about the coffee being "one of the best inventions commoners could make". Hitomi shook her head, but she had to admit that it was amusing how he reacted to it. She'd never seen anyone besides her aunt so excited about coffee before.

Kyoya's clients were much more thankful to have the coffee than Kyoya was. He took the cup with a "Thank you" and gave Hitomi a smile, but didn't start freaking out about it like his clients. Hitomi turned away so that she didn't frown in front of him. She didn't really like that smile he put on.

Hikaru and Kaoru were excited to see the coffee when Hitomi made her way to them. They reached out for the cups but she ignored them and gave the cups to the clients. The twins tried to grab the last two cups but Hitomi jumped away. Hikaru grabbed the end of her blazer.

"Hey, hey!" she said, swatting his hand away. "Don't rip this new one."

"We want our coffee," he said, holding out his hand. Kaoru mimicked his action.

"I want stuff, too, but I can't always have it. Sometimes I have to wait for it like you two will." She stuck out her tongue.

The twins blinked, then snickered. "You think that's intimidating or something?" they asked.

"No, I actually think it's kinda lame, but it's the best I can come up with. And I'm not giving you your coffee." She dodged Kaoru's attempt to grab her and hurried to the snack room. Luckily the twins decided that their clients were more important than the coffee. Two of the clients offered to share theirs with the twins and they accepted.

_Aw, well, at least the girls are nice, _Hitomi thought, preparing the last cups.

Haruhi's table made a bigger fuss over the coffee than any other table. When Hitomi appeared they all stared at it with wide eyes then rushed to get some. She felt like she had a swarm of dogs around her.

The girls got their coffee and returned to the table, then started pelting Haruhi with questions about "commoner's coffee" and other things that a "commoner" would usually have. Hitomi slid Haruhi's cup to her across the table and then went back to the snack room.

"Maybe I should hang out here and do some homework for a while," she muttered, eating one of the cookies from her bag.

Suddenly there was a crash outside. Hitomi jumped and turned around.

From her spot in the room she could see Tamaki holding a girl and everyone staring at a broken cup.

"Hitomi," Kyoya called.

_Damn it! _she thought, grabbing a broom and dustpan and rushing out.

"Are you okay, princess?" Tamaki asked the red-faced girl in an overly dramatized voice, his worried face nearly inches from hers.

"I-I think so," the girl muttered. Hitomi reached the mess and huffed.

"What happened here?" she asked Tamaki, giving him a glare.

"My darling princess here was startled by a very rude comment that those two _demons_ said to her." He glared at the twins who were on the other side of the room. Hitomi shot them a glare as well and then set down the dust pan and started sweeping up the mess.

"Please be careful next time, miss," she said in a nicer tone to the girl while she cleaned. "I don't know how many of these we have, and none of us want you or any of the other clients being hurt by any shards."

"I will," she said.

"You know we have a lot of the same cups," Kaoru said when she had gotten all the shards onto the dustpan.

"I don't care," she said. She pointed the handle of the broom at him and Hikaru. "Firstly this is wasting a perfectly good cup and secondly the shards could have bounced off of the floor and hurt anyone standing near them." She hoped worrying about the girls would give her some bonus points with Kyoya. Sure, she really did worry about them, but she worried more about that debt. Maybe showing interest and care in the club would lower it little by little.

Hitomi retreated back into the snack room and got rid of the shards, then ate another cookie. She pulled out her history homework and got to work. She knew that Kyoya said she ought to serve cake to Honey and Mori's tables, but she didn't feel like doing it (as if she even felt like serving drinks) and her homework was much more important than cake.

Hitomi climbed onto the counter next to the sink and started doing her homework. The homework was about the Yayoi period of Japan, and all she could imagine was Yoshinogari in the Saga prefecture. She'd never been there, but she had seen pictures and heard about it from her father. She grinned at the thought of old council members holed up in a wood-and-straw building suspended about two meters in the air, preparing to ask their gods for help with whatever they had trouble with. She also grinned at the memory of a picture the burial pots her dad had shown her. Hitomi was so engrossed in her imagination that she didn't notice Haruhi calling her name.

"Hitomi!" she yelled. Hitomi jumped and hit her back on the wall.

"Ow," she mumbled, rubbing her back. She looked up at Haruhi. "What's up, Haruhi?"

"Kyoya wants you to wash the dishes," she said. "Everyone's done with their drinks. Also there's about an hour left until the club ends."

"Really?" Haruhi nodded. "Thank goodness!"

"I also already brought my table's cups," she gestured to the pile of cups in the sink. "Tamaki's, too."

"Wow, thanks, Haruhi." She slid off of the counter. "Did you have to do this stuff, too? Or did you start off as a host right away?"

"I was their 'dog'," Haruhi said, gesturing for Hitomi to follow her out of the room. "Then I started charming some of the girls by accident and they made me a host. It's a lot better than being their dog."

She frowned a little. "Hey, how come you got the title 'dog'?"

"I don't know. Tamaki just started calling me the Host Club's dog since day one."

"Ah, well, they'll probably keep calling me 'puppy'. It's only been two days, but I feel like it's stuck. Or, well, maybe just the twins'll call me that." She shrugged, then walked away from Haruhi and started collecting the cups.

After a long process of getting as many cups as she could carry (she stupidly forgot to take a platter with her the first time and ended up having her arms full on her way back to the room), taking them to the sink, then coming back and doing the same thing over and over again, then cleaning every cup that didn't fit into the dishwasher, and finally sweeping up after the clients when they left, she began to feel a small pain in her back. Michiko would say she was becoming a mama-san.

_I've done more cleaning than this before, _she thought. _It's no big deal._

Hitomi finished sweeping and put the broom back before heading to the dressing room. She walked over to the bench where her torn uniform was, or was supposed to be. She frowned and looked around.

"Where'd it go?" she muttered, searching under the bench. She remembered leaving her uniform on it because her backpack was next to it. Thankfully her backpack was still there, but the uniform was no where in the dressing room. She checked in the pack just in case she had put in in there and just forgot, but found only books and pencils.

Hitomi slung her bag over her shoulder and ran out of the room. "Kyoya!" she said. The second-year looked up from his notebook.

"Yes?" he said.

"Where's my uniform?" she asked. "It's not in the dressing room."

"Why would I know where your uniform is?" he asked.

"Because you were the one fussing over it earlier," she said. "You didn't throw it away, did you?"

"No, why would I?" he said.

"Because, like I said before –"

"Unless it would benefit me to throw away your uniform, there is no reason why I would, and at this moment it doesn't benefit me whatsoever," he said simply. "How about you ask the twins instead?"

Hitomi looked back at the twins who were staring at her with flat faces. She walked over to them and crossed her arms.

"Don't flip out," Hikaru said.

"We have your uniform with us," Kaoru said.

"Give it back, then," she said. They shook their heads.

"What, so your aunt can fix it?" Hikaru said.

"She probably doesn't have the right fabric, does she?" Kaoru asked. Hitomi thought about that. The uniform was made of a very fine fabric that Michiko probably didn't have. She could buy it, though.

"She can buy the fabric," Hitomi said.

"Our mom makes clothes and has tons of different fabric, so she can fix it," Hikaru said. She narrowed her eyes a little.

"There's a catch, isn't there?" she asked.

"You'll just owe us," Kaoru said.

"Know what? I'll take that uniform back. Which one of you has it – Kaoru?"

"Don't you want a spare in case that new one gets ruined, too?" they asked. She frowned.

"My aunt can fix it up just fine, so give it back," she said. They shook their heads and stepped back.

"Nope! Our mom'll fix it and then you'll owe us!"

"That's not fair!" she said. "I didn't ask you for this! I shouldn't owe you! You guys just want me to for some reason!"

"Too bad." They stepped out of the room.

"Hey!" She ran out after them, but found that they were already at the end of the hall. "You two get back here! I don't want to owe you anything!"

The twins were already gone by the time she reached the end of the hall. She ran down the stairs and stopped at the second floor to catch her breath. She looked out a window and saw then jumping into a sleek black car.

_How the hell did they get down there so fast? _she wondered. _And why the hell do they want me to owe them?_

She frowned and continued down to the first floor. If only she had stuck the uniform in her backpack. She had some room for it, after all.

"Damn them," she mumbled.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks to Lena Academi for reviewing! I hope Hitomi gets more character development, too...**

**On to chapter five!**

"Sorry, Tomi, sorry," Auntie Michiko said when Hitomi winced. She'd accidentally brushed the teenager's head too hard.

"Yeah, yeah, Auntie," Hitomi muttered. She squirmed in her spot on the floor and waited for Michiko to finish braiding her hair while they watched Gaki no Tsukai Punishment Game reruns.

Hitomi struggled to stay awake. She'd been up all last night doing homework so she could have a free weekend that week. After three days of working for the Host Club, she found herself strangely tired, almost like when she was managing her friends when they went to conventions or when they were helping out with a festival. She needed a weekend to rest after conventions and festivals.

"Hitomi," Michiko said, moving Hitomi's head so she wasn't about to nod off.

"Sorry," She yawned. "Grandma."

"Grandma?"

"I mean, Auntie!"

Michiko clicked her tongue. "Hitomi, you're so tired. It's like you've gone to a convention over the week!"

"I know, Auntie, I know," Hitomi said. She rubbed her eyes. "I've just been working. Not too much, but I've been working on my homework and working for the club."

"Oh, working." The woman laughed. "Well, we can be tired together, now."

"Not as tired," Hitomi pointed out. "I serve drinks and clean up and do homework. You fix cars. There's a difference."

"Right." There was a pause and they laughed at a joke that a guest star on Gaki said.

"If we were playing, we'd be so out!" Hitomi said when Hamada and Matsumoto were called out.

"We probably wouldn't be able to feel our butts by the time the game was over," Michiko said. The two of them sighed. "So, Hitomi."

"So, Auntie."

"You've been working for the Host Club for three days and I don't even know what it's like," she said. "I mean, when you go to a convention you tell me _everything _about the first day when you call to say goodnight, but you've said _nothing _about this club."

"Well, conventions are much more exciting!" Hitomi said.

"I know that, but your job is...what? How is it exactly?"

Hitomi frowned. She wanted to say that she hated her job, but then Michiko might get suspicious of why she "volunteered" to work for them in the fist place.

"It's okay," she said.

"Just okay?" Michiko asked when she didn't respond for another minute. She shook her niece. "Tomi!"

"Fine, fine!" Hitomi said. "Here, I'll give you a description of my day: First I attend school, then when school's over I make my way to the club and am usually joined by Kyoya Ootori and Tamaki Suou –"

"You're friends with an Ootori and a Suou?" Michiko asked in amazement. "I mean, continue!"

"Kyoya tells me to wait, so I wait. Once the other hosts are in we all wait for the club to officially open – that's at about three thirty – and while they're waiting in front of the door to welcome their clients, I'm in a room full of snacks, drinks, and dishes that would make your jaw drop. When the clients come in, I either make tea or instant coffee which is nicknamed 'commoner's coffee' in the club."

"Commoner's coffee?" Michiko repeated.

"Yep. I dunno why they call it that. So after I deliver the drinks to all six tables while the hosts flirt in their own ways, I go back to the snack room. Then I do my homework for a little bit, go back out to collect and clean the dishes – and yesterday I had to serve cake a few times – and then once the dishes are clean I do my homework again. At the end I sweep the room and prepare to leave."

"And who are the hosts?"

"Haruhi Fujioka who's in my class, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin who are also in my class, Kyoya Ootori and Tamaki Suou in 2-A, and Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Takashi Morinozuka in 3-A," Hitomi said. "Haruhi's not rich."

"Wow," Michiko sighed. "An Ootori and a Suou! Hitomi, do you know who their parents are?"

"No," the teen admitted.

"You don't? You must know who Tamaki's father is!"

"I don't."

"Tomi! Tamaki's father is the chairman of the school!"

Hitomi's eyes widened slightly. Maybe she should be nice to Tamaki. He wouldn't tell on her if she was mean to him, would he? He didn't seem like the type to do that, but she didn't want to get kicked out of the school, so just in case...

"And Kyoya...his family has a chain of very successful hospitals," Michiko said. "I think I actually might have seen an Ootori before...Oh, but Haninozuka and Morinozuka! I can't believe you know your idols!"

"Martial Arts idols," Hitomi said.

"I know. Are they everything you expected?"

"Well, yes and no. Mori-senpai's pretty quiet and serious like I thought a martial arts master would be, but Honey-senpai is childish. Like, _really _childish. He even looks like he's four or something even though he's a third-year!" Hitomi exclaimed.

"Really?" Michiko frowned slightly, then smiled. "Ah, well. People are just born the way they are. Oh, Hitomi! Did you know the Hitachiin's mother makes clothes? If they are from those Hitachiins, and not the ones who make candles, at least I think that's what they do. Or are they actually the Hitachii who do the thing with elevators?"

"They're the clothes Hitachiins," Hitomi said with a sigh. "I know because the twins stole my torn uniform and are having their mother fix it."

"Really?" She sounded excited. "That's so cool, Tomi!"

"I don't see how it's cool, but okay."

"Your uniform is getting fixed by a very well-known seamstress! Oh my god, Tomi, did I show you the fashion show where her work was featured?"

"Fashion shows are weird. They have weird clothes that you can't even wear."

"This one had casual clothes in it."

"Well, anyway, I already told you months ago I refuse to pay tons of money for something I'm going to wear all the time."

"You wear your uniform all the time," Michiko pointed out.

"Because I _have _to wear it all the time," Hitomi said. "I mean, if I didn't have to wear the uniform I wouldn't have gotten it. I don't want to get something then ruin it and then have to pay tons of money to fix it. And I know the really good stuff is the most expensive, but that might mean that it's easier to ruin, too."

"Ah, right." The was a short pause. "Well, what are the boys like?"

"Uh, well, Haruhi's actually a girl..."

"Haruhi did sound like a girl's name," Michko said with a nod.

"Yeah. She's the most normal one out of the whole group, probably because she doesn't have as much money as they do. She's what everyone at school calls a commoner. The twins are kinda ass-holes and like bugging me and really like messing with Tamaki and our class president. Tamki's a big flirt and he's pretty silly. He reminds me of Nobuo sometimes. Kyoya's...I don't know, I think he's secretly evil. And he always has this notebook with him and he write stuff down in it all the time. Mori and Honey I already told you about."

"They don't sound that bad."

"Yeah, well, they're a little annoying. The twins and second-years, I mean."

"I'm sure you'll get used to them. Oh, look! I'm done!"

Hitomi felt her hair. It was all in one big braid.

"Good." She leaned against Michiko's legs and they continued to watch the show, laughing at the jokes.

"Hey, Tomi." Michiko poked her head. Hitomi grunted. "Do you have a crush on anyone yet?"

"No." She frowned. "There's no one I really like at that school."

"Really? Not even anyone from the Host Club?" Michiko asked. Hitomi shook her head.

"Nope, nope. Even though all of those guys are pretty attractive, I don't really have a thing for any of them. I mean, if I did it would probably be Mori-senpai since he doesn't give me any trouble. But, still, no feelings for anyone. None. So don't ask."

"Not even Tamaki? You said he was like Nobuo."

"Yeah, but me and Nobuo are friends now, remember? Now, no more questions about crushes."

Michiko frowned and leaned back. "Alright, I won't ask again today, but next weekend I will."

"I'm not going to like anyone by next weekend!"

"You never know, Hitomi."

Hitomi frowned and focused her attention on the show. One thing did nag in the back of her mind though and wouldn't leave her to watch the show in peace: Did she really think the guys in the Host Club were attractive?

She started to think about it. She didn't really pay much attention to their looks but when she pictured them in her head she did start to see what the clients were talking about when they were squealing over how cute Honey was or how handsome any of the other boys were. It was actually hard for her to choose who was the most attractive out of the bunch. When she tried to choose she ended up leaning more towards Mori who had a more mature look than the others, but then there was Tamaki with his blonde hair and violet eyes which was a nice change from the other boys who mostly had black or brown hair. And Kyoya, even though she didn't like to admit it and she would never admit it to anyone else, was pretty good-looking. The glasses were a plus for Hitomi since she had a thing for guys with glasses. The twins...she really liked their hair and their eyes almost as much as she liked Tamaki's. And everyone had great smiles.

Hitomi shrugged and pushed the thought out of her mind. It's not like she'd ever need to choose who was the most attractive or anything, and she wasn't about to go trying to date any of them, so she didn't need to think about how attractive they were.

**A/N: I tried to make a joke in the beginning when Hitomi called Michiko "Grandma", since in Japanese there's only one character/letter difference between the words for Grandmother and Aunt. (Obaasan - Grandmother; Obasan - Aunt.)**


	6. Chapter 6

"A game?" Hitomi looked up at the twins who grinned at her and nodded. "What game?"

"The 'Guess Which One is Hikaru' game!" the twins exclaimed, pulling out identical hats and putting them on. They put their hands on their hips. "So, which one is Hikaru?"

Hitomi looked between the two of them. It was very hard for her to tell which one was which, even without the hats on. She wanted to answer, but was fifty percent sure that she would get it wrong, and she hated losing games.

"I have beef strips to eat," she said, looking back down at her lunch box.

"Aw, c'mon, Hitomi! You have to tell us which one's which!" they said. She shook her head.

"How about you ask Haruhi?" She nudged Haruhi who sat beside her.

"It's no fun with Haruhi though," the twins said. "She always guesses right." Hitomi looked over at Haruhi.

"Yeah, it's true," she said. "The first time I guessed right was a day or so before those two dyed their hair pink and blue and had that fake fight."

"Oh, I remember that," Hitomi said. "It was fake?"

"Yeah, totally fake."

She nodded and turned back to the twins who seemed to still be waiting for an answer.

"Well?" they said.

"Well why don't you go ask that group of girls over by the fountain?" she asked. "I'm trying to finish my lunch."

The twins stuck their tongues out. "You're no fun either," they said before walking down the stairs leading up to the school and going over to the group of girls.

"Hikaru's on the left," Haruhi said. Hitomi glanced up at them.

"I see."

They continued eating their lunch. Hitomi finished before Haruhi and leaned back, setting her lunchbox next to her.

"Hey, Haruhi?" she asked. "D'you know what's gonna happen on this theme day thing Tamaki-senpai was talking about? I heard him talking about it with Honey-senpai two weeks ago."

"Uh, no, not really," Haruhi said. "I don't think they've even decided yet, but they ought to since it's this week."

"Really? Do they take suggestions?" Hitomi's eyes lit up. Haruhi shrugged.

"I don't know. You can ask Kyoya – actually, you should probably ask Tamaki-senpai. Did you have an idea?"

"Yup. I was thinking maybe we could dress up as waiters and waitresses on roller skates. It would not only mean I don't have to serve everyone all the time, but it'd also be fun!"

"That does sound kind of fun, but I can't skate," Haruhi said with a slight frown.

"Want me to teach you?" Hitomi asked excitedly. "I was a skating champ when I was ten."

"You can train someone in a short amount of time?" Haruhi asked with a doubtful tone.

"Well, I haven't trained anyone in forever, but I could try. I did successfully train my Auntie."

Haruhi thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay. If Kyoya and Tamaki say it's okay, I'll let you train me."

"Yes! Okay, I'll need your shoes size but..." Hitomi looked at her shoes. "I think we have the same size. My feet might be a bit bigger."

"Why?"

"So I can let you use my skates, of course."

"Oh. Right."

Just then the bell rang. Haruhi quickly finished up the last bit of rice and closed her lunch box. She and Hitomi got up and walked into the school.

"Hey, Tamaki-senpai!" Hitomi ran over to Tamaki and Kyoya who gave her curious looks. "Can I talk to you? Without Kyoya-senpai." She and Kyoya eyed each other.

"Of course!" Tamaki said happily. He and Hitomi walked away from Kyoya. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I was wondering if you took suggestions for that theme day you were talking about," she said.

"Yeah! You have an idea?" She nodded.

"I was thinking waiters on skates," she said.

"It sounds fun, but we've already been waiters before," Tamaki said, frowning. "Kyoya, the twins, and myself, that is."

"Yeah?" Hitomi frowned as well. "Well...were you guys the fancy waiters?"

"Yes."

"Then how about not being fancy waiters? My Auntie showed me some pictures of waitresses in America in...the 50s, I think? Anyway, they had skirts with aprons, some had paper hats, and so on. I don't know what the guys looked like, but I'm sure I can find some pictures on the internet...But..." She shrugged. "It's not really that good of an idea. I can't think of much if you guys were already waiters."

"No, no!" He took her hands in his own, his eyes gleaming in excitement. "That sounds like a fun idea! I'm sure the others will agree!"

"Right." Hitomi looked back at everyone else. No one but the twins seemed to show any interest in what they were doing. "Uh, don't tell anyone it was my idea. Unless they actually like it, then it was totally all my idea." Tamaki nodded, but she wasn't sure he actually heard her.

"I'll go tell Kyoya!" He let go of her hands and bounced towards Kyoya.

Hitomi hoped Kyoya would say yes. She had willingly suggested to do something! He had to say yes! And she knew that 50s waiters and waitresses didn't have the most appealing outfits in the world, but the hosts could pull it off. Plus it seemed like a good idea! Even though the costumes were probably what they considered to be what a "commoner" would wear, she thought that with the "commoner" fever going on because of Haruhi, it would be okay.

She hurried into the snack room and was surprised to find Mori and Honey there. She nearly bumped into Mori.

"Mori-senpai! Honey-senpai!" she said. "What are you guys doing in here?"

"We're looking for cake of course!" Honey said. "Takashi, what do you think about cheesecake?" Mori responded with a grunt. "Okay, we'll get cheesecake today! Tomi-chan, make sure you bring more cheesecake to our table when we run out, okay?"

Hitomi nodded and inched past Mori who was getting the cheesecake. She grabbed a platter, teapot, and teacups and turned to the counter.

_Wait, what tea am I supposed to make? _she wondered, setting the dishes on the counter. She looked at all the teabags. There were so many, too many to count! And then there was instant coffee, but there probably wasn't enough for everyone.

In the end she decided to close her eyes and pick randomly. She shut her eyes and moved her hands around, feeling the different baskets that the teabags were in. She closed her fist around a group of them when two voices whispered in her ears. "What are you doing?"

She jumped and opened her eyes, turning around to face the twins.

"Can you not do that anymore?" she asked, rubbing the goosebumps on her neck. They smirked at her.

"Well, what are you doing?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm randomly choosing tea for today," she said. She opened up her fist and looked at the few teabags she had pulled out. "I'm not sure which one these are, though."

"Black tea," Kaoru said.

"Oh yeah? Thanks." He nodded.

"Now, what were you and the King talking about?" he asked. She frowned.

"Nothing," she said, pushing past them to get to the sink.

"C'mon, Hitomi, you can tell us," Hikaru said. "We're friends after all."

She shook her head and furrowed her brow. Were they friends? She never gave much thought to it, but she did spend a lot of time around them during lunch break and free period, and they did talk a lot. Maybe they were friends.

"Even if we're friends, I'm not telling you," she said. She turned to get more teabags and found Hikaru and Kaoru blocking her. She frowned. "Let me through you guys. I need to get more teabags." They shook their heads.

"Not until you tell us what you guys were talking about," Kaoru said. She tried pushing past them but they didn't even budge.

"It's not even that important," she said.

"It must be if you won't tell us," Hikaru said, smirking at her attempts to push them out of the way.

"Hitomi," Kyoya called. The twins moved just as she was about to try and pushed past them again. She stumbled forward and caught herself on one of the shelves. She glared back at the twins who gave her innocent smiles.

"I'm coming, Senpai," she said before giving them one more glare and heading out.

Kyoya and Tamaki were waiting for her by Kyoya's usual table. Hitomi hoped Kyoya would think that the idea was okay. She was pretty sure it was a good idea.

"Tamaki tells me that you've suggested we do an American 50s waiters on skates theme for theme day," Kyoya said when she stood in front of them. Hitomi glared at Tamaki.

"I said don't tell anyone it was my idea!" she hissed.

"Sorry," Tamaki muttered.

"I've seen some pictures of the outfits and I have to say, they aren't very appealing at all," Kyoya said.

"Okay, I know that stuff has a kinda 'commoner' look to it, but don't you think that would be even cooler for the clients?" Hitomi asked. "I mean, isn't there some lower-class fever going on around here since Haruhi's joined you guys? I actually think they'd like the outfits. Plus if you guys skate around it'll be even cooler, and it's actually fun. C'mon, Senpai, at least try it. I suggested it! Before today I didn't want to have anything to do with this club!" Kyoya looked at her as if he was x-raying her. She felt unsettled, and any confidence she had was slowly disappearing.

"Please, Kyoya?" Tamaki asked, putting his hands together. Hitomi copied him.

He sighed. "I guess we can try it," he said. "There's only one problem –"

"Haruhi doesn't know how to skate?" Hitomi said. "We already agreed that if you two said it was okay then I'd train her."

"Well, not only does Haruhi not know how to skate, but neither does Tamaki."

Hitomi looked at Tamaki who smiled bashfully and scratched his head. "I didn't skate much when I was a kid," he said.

"Okay, then...I'm sure I could teach you, too," Hitomi said.

"By Friday?" Kyoya asked.

"I'll get it done!" Hitomi said. "I mean, I taught myself how to skate decently in a week. But this should count towards my debt. Just shave a couple thousand off." Kyoya gave her a look. "What? I'm technically still working for the club by helping club members prepare for the theme day. Take off twenty-five thousand each at the most." He gave her another look. "Twenty-five hundred?"

Kyoya thought about it, then nodded. "Alright. But you have to train them during lunch time and free period."

"That's okay. I don't have anything important to do during those period anyway." _With my luck I'll probably end up having to do volunteer work for Mr. Watanabe or someone else, _she thought bitterly. At Sakura, whenever she did something special for her club she'd end up doing volunteer work for someone else.

"Good." He turned to Tamaki and started talking about the costumes. Hitomi figured that meant she wasn't part of the conversation anymore.

She hurried over to Haruhi and sat next to her on the couch. "Haruhi! Guess what!"

"Kyoya approved?" She nodded with a smile.

"That means that, sadly, you and Tamaki have to train during lunch and free period," she said.

"Wait, Tamaki-senpai can't skate?" Haruhi asked.

"Nope. He'll be your classmate."

"Oh. Alright then."

"Boss, it's almost time!" the twins called to Tamaki.

"Everyone get into your positions!" Tamaki said. The hosts got up and waited around the door. Hitomi hurried over to the snack room and grabbed more teabags and started to make the tea as the front doors opened.


End file.
